“Fuck!” Carla said as she bumped into a chair. “Sometimes I miss having scales. I would never have felt that with scales.” Her feet were sensitive as well, and she wore my jandels everywhere. Jandels really were the Samoan safety boot. It wasn’t just a joke.

Once Carla got up, she and Soph disappeared into their rooms together. Carla couldn’t seem to stop touching Soph’s fur. Carla was mostly exhausted, and she dozed through lunch.

They both appeared mid-afternoon wearing only bikini bottoms to sit by the pool. Carla was still constantly running her fingers through Soph’s fur. It wasn’t sexual. It was just loving.

It looked sexual from my horny perspective, and Carla knew it. She was more than a little horny herself. I could smell it. Carla was teasing me. I went for a naked swim. Two can play that game.

Soph knew what we were doing, but she wasn’t horny.

Carla and I were both horny, but we weren’t like out-of-control teenagers. We knew our bodies and the tease and innuendos that went on all afternoon and into the evening were part of the game. The fisherman is baiting the hook and getting only nibbles, knowing the big catch is inevitable.

I must admit that when Carla came to my room around midnight, the first round was more like out-of-control teenagers. There is fun in that as well.

Carla left around 3 a.m., and I got a couple of hours of sleep. Around 5 a.m., I was swimming laps with both dogs in the pool. Pools are boring, but the dogs are fun.

I let my mind wander. The military contracts had been reviewed, and the amendments were on Lieutenant Fluncky's desk for review.

Mostly my mind was on Carla, and I don’t mean the sexy ass and perky tits. I mean the essence and the change. O.K, maybe a little ass and tits.

There has to be a better way. I swam lap after lap at a leisurely pace, letting my mind wander over the events. There was the build-up and the climax. A bit like our sex yesterday. The build-up included her skin rash and itching rising to a painful level. Then, the climatic release as the scales gave way under a wave of burning. The wave system handled most of the build-up, and I needed to bring her to the climax and finish her off.

The link is the key. I don’t think we are using it efficiently. Using the link to finish by squirting essence all over her gets the job done, but there has to be a way for her to maintain control, like riding on top, controlling the pace, and directing our bodies so she can hit the right spot.

There has to be a better way.

Can we go partway through the change and then back off? These would be test runs, as it were, like tease and then denial, where we can practice different build-up techniques and then not finish. That is worth exploring.

We need to find a way to ease the pain so she can stay in control. Losing control in the climax is normal, but she needs to be in control right up till that moment. If she is in control, she can direct the essence, which could be much more efficient than the explosive finish. Could she suck the essence out, controlling her swallows as it were? We need to practice that as well.

Carla and I need to spend a lot more time together practising.

What about Soph? She could sense the changes in Carla when Carla was losing it. I need to find out more about what she was sensing through Rich. If she could warn me when Carla was reaching her peak, I could back off. What else could she sense? I could sense nothing once my essence passed through the link, but Soph could sense Carla’s essence and, I presume, my essence. Could she become the one in the middle? If that was the case, we could become an effective threesome.

I had been spending too much time on my own exploring my own essence. Obviously, self-exploration is key, but I forgot I am already linked into a threesome, and to make this work, I need to understand more intimately about my partners and the way their bodies work.

I have been neglecting one member of our threesome in particular, and her body works very differently from ours. She must be feeling left out and untouched, but Soph is an integral part of this. I need to figure out how she works her essence and what turns her on. She is the Witch with essence and emotion. If she needs us to dance naked around a fire and bring the cauldron to the boil, then that is what we need to do.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Wait. That analogy is stupid, but what if she is like a cauldron? Rich and Buck have two similar but different essences and are linked mentally. Could she create more bonds with creatures from different anomalies? Could she add different essences to her cauldron and stir it all together? I have been thinking too small for Soph. She needs variety. Could she create a mental bond with us? There is so much we need to explore with her. Just because she is not like us sexually or in the way she uses essence doesn’t mean she is left out in the cold.

Soph could be the key to Carla keeping control through her climactic changes. It is not just her bond with the dogs. It is her bonds themselves that could be the key. Are the bonds only one-way, or are they two-way? Is Soph learning from her bonds? I need to spend more time with Soph.

Oh, fucking hell, this is a weird ass harem, isn’t it? Its basis isn’t sexual, but essence bonds and links. Bloody emotions. I feel Buck’s Estate calling me.

I have been concentrating on Carla, but to further penetrate her, we need to focus on Soph and include her in the threesome. Soph's bonds could be the key to giving Carla the biggest orgasmic change of her life.

Just then, the house doors opened, and Carla and Soph came out in dressing gowns. The dogs ran over and sprayed them with water as they shook themselves. Good on them

Soph and Carla dropped their dressing gowns, revealed their naked glory in the rising sun, and dove into the water. The lap pool wasn’t that wide, and I had swum a lot already, so I moved to the side and watched them. If I weren’t feeling so empty, it would have gotten a rise out of me. It might, anyway.

Soph soon moved over to me to let Carla extend herself and get used to the gills in human form. Her neck was still an erogenous zone for her, probably even more so with the gills.

“Can you shake yourself like the dogs and spray water everywhere?” I ask.

“No,” she said, “but it would be handy.”

“I am happy to watch if you want to try,” I said.

“You are not actually that sexual, are you? You just like making people uncomfortable. Push them away,” Soph said.

I felt a cold nose on the back of my head, and I could see Buck across the pool. Good Rich is here. We might actually have a conversation.

I said, “I have been neglecting you as part of our threesome. I have been focussing on bringing Carla to her peak, but you might hold the key to her essence and not just her heart.”

“Oh?”

“I need to know how your bond works. Have you tried forming a bond with Carla?” I asked.

“What? No. I thought the bonds with the dogs were due to them happening during the mutation, so that would be all,” Soph said.

“That might be the case, but I have some doubts. I think your mutation enables you to form emotional bonds, and the dogs are only the first.”

“Really? What makes you think that?” Soph asked.

“No hard evidence, just speculation, but we need to test it because I think Carla needs to stay aware during her change and direct the essence. If you had a bond with her, it could help her stay calm and focused.”

“I … ah, I don’t know what to say. I was feeling left out yesterday.”

“You are already invested emotionally in Carla. She is invested in you. I think this would be the easiest bond you would ever be able to form, assuming I am right. I have been known to be wrong occasionally. It could be that you have a dog mutation and, therefore, can only bond with canines. A bond with Carla would then cement her as the Bitch, but maybe you can bond with all sorts of things.” I pondered.

“I most certainly want to try!” Soph said. “How would we do this?”

“If it were me and Carla, I would suggest sex, but that is not where you and Carla connect the most. How do you connect the best with her?”

“Talking, spending time together, just doing things together, doing things for her- that sort of thing really connects me. It is the little things. Carla gets it.”

“Well, we need to talk to Carla and understand how your current bonds work.”

Soph looked at me and said, “This would mean a lot to me and Car. You are alright, Bob.”

“No, I am not. I am rude and crude and don’t like people.”

“And yet you are doing this for us anyway. I would have sex with you if you wanted, you know. I don’t hate sex.”

“The thing is, sex for me is all about mutual pleasure and enjoyment. You would be doing this for me. That is different. It is not something you are doing because you will enjoy it,” I replied.

“I do like doing things for other people, though, so it is not all one way,” Soph said.

“It is not the same, and I am not some sex-crazed idiot who can’t control themselves around a naked, beautiful lady. You are beautiful. You have an absolutely gorgeous body, and the fur makes it even better. I am happy ogling you from afar.”

“You really are a good man. No!” she put a finger to my lips to shut me up. " Don’t say anything. I will say this, though. If I ever want to give Carla a child, I will come and see you.” She then dove under the water and swam out to Carla, so I didn’t get a chance to reply.

I think I was speechless anyway. Somebody wanted to have my child? I didn’t think that would ever happen. It really must be the end of the world.